Through the Veil
by thescarofthering
Summary: My AU take on what happened to Sirius when he fell through the veil in OotP. Sirius finds himself making a choice after his death which lands him in middle earth. Affiliate/prologue of my story 'Harry Potter and the Quest of the Ring' but you don't have to have read that to understand this. It's better than it sounds! Oneshot. Complete (though I may add more if requested - a lot)


**A/N: Hello everyone. This is my AU take on what would have happened to Sirius when he fell through the veil. It is a cross over between LOTR and HP and it is connected with my story 'Harry Potter and the Quest of the Ring'. You can consider it as a sort of prologue. I may most likely keep it as a one shot but if asked (nicely) I may continue it and make it a series of one shots, it all depends on the feedback I receive. Please review and tell me what you think!**

Through the veil

Part 1: The other side

**(3rd person) **

"SIRIUS!"

He saw Harry screaming his name hair after his cousin Bellatrix had sent an 'avada Kedavra' at him. How he longed to run to his godson and hold him, but he couldn't. He saw his body fall back in to the veil behind him. But he didn't feel any of it. Sirius Black knew that he was dead but what he didn't understand was why he could still understand what was going on around him.

Seeing as no one who was dead by the killing curse had ever could tell them exactly what the victim went through, it was never documented that the soul didn't actually leave the body until a minute after the physical body had died. Until that time the person who was murdered was mentally aware of their surroundings.

Of course Sirius never knew this, but he didn't have time I ponder over this because ten seconds after he was hit he fell back into the veil behind him. Sirius landed on his head and his last thought before his eyes went black was how he could get to Harry on the other side of the veil.

* * *

**(POV: Sirius) **

Everything was black.

'Okay open your eyes then' that pesky voice in my head told me; I could almost feel his eye roll, if the voice had eyes that is.

So I opened them

'Nope, still black' I told the voice smugly.

I was lying on a hard surface and I couldn't see a thing. It was bloody freaky, I tell you. For a second I wondered where I was, and then it hit me. Bellatrix. Killing curse. Moony and Harry... I had died.

I gulped, holding back my sadness. I wasn't ever afraid of death. By I was afraid for Harry and Remus, who were completely alone again. But realizing my situation I understood that this wasn't the time to emotional. I took a deep breath and put on my rarely seen critical thinking hat.

Surprised that my body was working, I sat up slowly, and tried to focus on my surroundings, it wasn't working. Why was I in an area that was so dark I couldn't make out a thing? Wasn't I dead? Maybe this was hell. But that can't be right, I may not have been the best person at times but I was mostly good. Unless there was no heaven or hell and I was just condemned to stay in a black hole for all of eternity. Now this scared the crap out of me.

My mind then wandered to my two dead best friends and a sudden spark of hope lit up. Maybe I could see them again, maybe they could tell me what was going on. A sad smile grew on my face I could see Lily and...

"James" I whispered the name of my brother, my best friend.

As if it was planned by fate when I said my best friends name a tiny ball of light appeared in front of me. Curiously I stood up and moved towards the only thing in the room that I could see. As I moved closer, it went farther from me.

"Come on Padfoot!" A voice said; a voice I knew only too well. And it came out of the ball.

I took a step closer and chocked out "James?"

"Uh duh... Now no time to be all emotional Padfoot, you have to follow me" the light with James' voice sped off and without a thought I ran off after it yelling

"Wait! What's going on?"

"There's no time to explain, you just have to trust me and follow me" the light said

"Alright" I grumbled, keeping up a good pace behind the light. I wondered briefly if this was what it meant to follow the light when one died. But no one ever mentioned the light would be in the form of your annoying best friend.

After what seemed like hours James' voice said something as the light stopped.

"Stop"

So I stopped.

"What's—?" I began to ask, but suddenly I was interrupted by a tug in my navel and felt like I was being pulled away. It felt like a portkey. The light followed me into the porktkey and we were both being transported together.

The first thing I noticed was that the transport was taking longer than it should have and that I was literally seeing my life flash before my eyes. It was like I was watching a screen. I saw my dark childhood, my mother screaming and my father holding the belt. This made me want it to end so I pushed forward hoping that my magic would make these terrifying images go away. But as I started to go faster through the tubes the images turned from terrible to horrifyingly sad. I saw Lily, James, Harry, Remus, I even saw Peter before he had turned. The images were of all of us together when Harry was born, we were all so happy, so alive. I reached for them, I wanted them. But doing this, wanting to slow down and watch the rare happy memory made the transport speed slow down.

"Keep pushing, Padfoot. It's almost over" James' voice said softly. I had forgotten the ball of light was still there. Still, hearing James' voice gave me a resolve so I pushed forward. In a few seconds I landed in an extremely bright room. The light was so blinding that I had to cover my eyes.

"Are you trying to blind me?" I asked

James' voice laughed "Sorry that was my fault. You can open your eyes now flea bag"

I opened my eyes slowly and was happy to see that I was in a regularly lit room but everything in the room was white. The wall the floor, everything. The only coloured things were the two mahogany doors in the middle of the room. The doors were just standing dead centre in room, having nothing on the other side of them.

"It's good to see you again" I turned around, wondering how much I hit my head that caused me to have a ball of light who spoke with my dead friends voice as my only friend in this damned place.

But it wasn't the light behind me, it was James. James the actual person.

"James" I chocked

"Sirius" James said solemnly.

I suddenly ran at him and enveloped him in a hug "I'm so sorry… it's all my fault — Lily — Harry… its ALL my fault" I sobbed in his arms.

"None of this is your fault Padfoot. NONE of it. It was bound to happen. So I will not let the few minutes we have together be spent by this blame game you have going on. Get it through your thick head after fourteen years that Lily and I have never, ever even thought that it was your fault." He said soothingly, yet stern as he rubbed my back and gently pushed me into a standing position.

I wiped a stray tear from my face and gave a confused expression "Few minutes?" I asked, deciding to ignore the entire situation from a few seconds ago.

"Yes, you have to make a choice Padfoot. Because you are not in fact dead" James said.

"Not dead?" I asked incredulously "But the killing curse…"

He gestured his arms to me and suddenly a chair appeared, another one did for himself. He sat down and motioned for me to do the same. He pinched the bridge of his nose and then looked up at me "This is a bit complicated so just hear me out first" he said tiredly. James took a deep breath and started to speak slowly, as if trying to explain to himself "When a person is killed by Avada Kedavra their soul remains in their body for about a minute, even though their body does die. You didn't get through the whole minute before you fell thought the veil which should have also killed a person. Everything in this world is balanced so when you supposedly died two times, something had to be done."

James took another deep breath and gave his best friend a huge grin"You're getting another chance Padfoot"

I felt my heart soar, Harry…

"The universe can't be unbalanced this way" James continued growing serious again "But the only catch is that you have a choice to make"

James got up and walked towards the doors. I began to get nervous at my friends behaviour, what was the catch?

"You can either choose to go back to Harry now," He pointed at the left door "or go to a place where you will see him four years later" he pointed to the right one

"What's the difference?" I asked joining him at the doors

"if you go back to him now, you won't be of much use. He won't have to go through depression but you will be severely injured physically and won't be able to help him defeat Voldemort"

Well that sucks "And if I see him later?"

"Then you see him once voldemort is dead. But you'll be thrown into another world, called middle earth — merlin used to live there. You'll suffer, a lot, until Harry arrives to middle earth. It will be hard, but Harry will need your help in this case"

"How bad would the physical injury be? In the first case I mean" I ask. Maybe I can overcome the injury, find a loophole or something.

"You'd lose your magic and will lose your legs. It comes with the price of going back to your proper time after dying. You'll have to use up all of your core to get your life back. And you were hit on the legs by the curse so that killed them in the process."

I think I feel my face getting paler.

"But you'd be able to adapt" James said quickly, probably trying to make me feel better. "But not in time for the final battle. Harry'll have to do that on his own"

"So why won't any of that stuff happen to me in the middle earth place?"

James looked thoughtful for a second, and then answered "Because you'll start off fresh, in a new world. It'll just be like waking up after a long sleep, since your magical core will not be directly related with the magical core of middle earth like it would have been on earth it will be conserved in your body instead of being released"

"And my limbs..." I ask, prompting him. I really don't want to lose those

"Will stay intact" James nodded. He leaned against the door, looked up at the ceiling, and let out a sigh. "Look Padfoot. The choice is up to you. But I think you should know that you would be of more use to Harry in middle-earth. But you'll have to go through tremendous torture and other hardships. However the point remains that it's you choice" he looked up into my eyes and I felt like his hazel ones were searching in my soul "He'll need you Sirius" He whispered painfully "My son needs you no matter what you choose"

My heart clenched. Of course I would be the one to complicate death so much, why couldn't I die like a normal person? Well it looks like I don't have much of a choice do I? It all comes down to Harry and Merlin knows I would do anything for my godson.

"I think I've made my decision" I said to James quietly. He searched my face looking for the answer to his question of what did I choose?

"Are you sure" he said coming up to me and putting a hand on my shoulder "Have you thought it out properly."

I grinned "Yeah I'm sure and no, since when have I ever thought anything through"

James chuckled "Well that's true... But seriously - "

I grinned wider and he just rolled his eyes

"Oh get over it, that's the oldest pun in the book. As I was saying what did you choose?"

"Second option. Might as well be useful even if I've gotta go through torture in a place I've never been before." I replied looking away.

James nodded solemnly. "Thanks Padfoot. Thanks for always being there for my son"

"Well I wasn't there for 12 years" I said bitterly. "Wormtail" I spat "That was the worst mistake I ever made, I tell you"

James looked sad "If we had known... We could have helped him Sirius, where did we go wrong?" He finished

"I wasn't our fault Prongs, that rat sold us out the minute he could, to save his own skin. He kept me away from Harry for so long, the bastard." I snarled, as he began to pace. Wormtail always brought out the worst in me.

"At least you go to see him" James' voice was small, hurt. And then it hit me, I knew suddenly what was wrong with James.

I turned around and but my hands on my brother-in-all-but-blood's shoulders. "Hey, I could never replace you, you know that"

"It not that you dolt. How could someone as amazing as me be replaced with such a flea bag" James said with a small smile on his face. He sighed "It's just after seeing all he's going through and all he'll go through I just wish I was there for him. I wish I could help him. I wish I was with him."

I put a hand on James' heart, something that I had done to his son two years ago. "The ones that love us never really leave us. And you can always find them in here. Harry will always have your support in his heart, and you'll always have his love in yours. Even in death the foundation of you family that was made with love will never break."

"You really need to come up with different lines Padfoot. They're getting old" James sniffed, I could tell he was holding back tears but at least he was well enough to crack a joke.

I grinned "Well now that that's cleared up...Ow! What was that for" I said rubbing my punched arm.

James chuckled "you're an absolute mystery, you know that? One second you're full of wisdom and stuff, and the next you go back to having absolutely no tact. You're lucky it was me that came to see you, not Lily"

"It's part of my charm" I said flashing my winning smile at him.

James rolled his eyes "Yeah, okay. Whatever lets you sleep at night Pads"

I mock glared at him "anyways as I was saying before I was interrupted so rudely was that can you tell me what's going to happen to me in middle-earth? I've read up on the history of the world in one of the many books I read while trapped in the House of Black. I know that whole there's magic there it's less channeled like ours is, and more raw. They have elves and goblins but they're as about different from ours as they can get. I know there's a council if wizards and Merlin was part of it for a time..."

"Well that's about all you're allowed to know, I can't tell you anything else. I'm not allowed and even though I want to, I physically can't"

I nodded, cursing in my mind for such a lack of loopholes.

"Well I guess I better not dawdle any longer. Might as well face what I have to." I said walking up to the door on my left.

"Good luck Sirius" James said enveloping me in a hug. He slipped a wooden stick in my hand and I felt a sudden warmth in it. "Don't trust anyone, never show them you're wand. No matter what you do never let your guard down" He whispered quickly. I hugged him back, silently thanking him from everything.

"Give Lily my love" I whispered back.

James let go and stepped out of way of the door

"Let's see what's behind door number two" I said chuckling to myself.

James who didn't understand what I just referenced to just groaned. "I knew I shouldn't have let you take muggle studies"

I grinned at him and reached for the handle and opened the door that revealed a plane of grass which had a huge black tower in the centre of it. I looked back one last time to my friend who looked sad and gave him a large smile, trying to ease his, and my own nervousness.

"Mischief Managed" I said before stepping out. I turned back to shut the door and realized it wasn't there anymore before I fell down in a faint.

* * *

Soon after I felt water on my face. Spluttering angrily I got up.

"Who...?" I began to ask before a was face to face with a tall man man with an exceptionally long white beard pointed nose and black eyes. He smiled at me with his yellow teeth.

"I am happy to see that you have woken up, my friend. It has been weeks since I found you alone on my front lawn, in a dead faint." He said, his beady eyes looking at me with what looked like greed. I gulped slightly and was beginning to panic. What did this guy know? I felt a huge amount of relief as I felt that my wand was still tucked in my sock.

"I'm sorry who are you?" I ask, trying my best to not sound rude or scared. I didn't like the way this guy was looking at me, and didn't like him. Call it instinct.

The man laughed but I didn't like the sound of it very much. His laughter didn't seem like it had ever touched happiness. "I am Saruman the Wise. The head of my order of wizards and the most powerful of them."

He had a very small, insignificant ego, doesn't he?

"I know every wizard in these lands but you... I have never met it even heard of the like of you" he continued. His eyes growing calculating. As if trying to read me.

"I don't know what you're talking about" I said hoarsely.

Saruman smiled evilly. "Oh I think you do. Tell me how else would you explain a man who spent the better part of three weeks turning into a dog from a person, if not a wizard?" He asked smiling sickly down at me.

I shut my eyes, sweet Merlin, what have I done?


End file.
